Senior foreign ministry official in Moscow demands the departure of NATO instructors from Kiev and freeze of weapons supply from the West as the Russia-Ukraine conflict rolls into its 302nd day.
Friday, December 23, 2022
Talks premature until ‘financing’ for Ukraine stops: Russian diplomat
A senior Russian diplomat has said that talks on security guarantees for Russia cannot take place while NATO instructors and “mercenaries” remain in Ukraine, and while Western arms supplies to the country continue.
In an interview with Russian state-owned news agency TASS, Alexander Darchiev, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North America department, said talks would be premature “until the flood of weapons and financing for the (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy regime stops, American and NATO servicemen / mercenaries / instructors are withdrawn”.
Russia typically refers to foreign volunteers fighting with the Ukrainian army as “mercenaries”, and has convicted captured foreign fighters of acting as such.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy defiant as he returns to Kiev
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sounded another defiant note on his return to his nation’s capital following his wartime visit to the United States, saying his forces are “working toward victory” even as Russia warned that there would be no end to the war until it achieved its military aims.
Zelenskyy posted on his Telegram account that he is in his Kiev office following his US trip that secured a new $1.8 billion military aid package, and pledged that “we’ll overcome everything”.
The Ukrainian president also thanked the Netherlands for pledging up to 2.5 billion euros ($2.65 billion) for 2023, to help pay for military equipment and rebuild critical infrastructure.
Zelenksyy’s return comes amid relentless Russian artillery, rocket and mortar fire as well as airstrikes on the eastern and southern fronts and elsewhere in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin:
– It’s (US providing Ukraine Patriot defence system) just prolonging the conflict, that’s all
– All conflicts end with diplomatic negotiations, the sooner our opponents understand this, the better pic.twitter.com/mWecNDJk0t— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) December 22, 2022
Ukrainians get training in howitzer repairs in Lithuania
A group of Ukrainian military mechanics have left NATO member Lithuania after receiving training in how to repair German artillery howitzers being supplied to Kiev to defend against Russia’s “special military operation”.
The 16 mechanics spent the last two weeks in the central town of Rukla, several of them after receiving an introductory course in Germany.
“They acquired theoretical knowledge elsewhere, but… we taught them things from real life, what are the frequent failures which are not described in the textbooks,” Zilvinas Cerskus, a major in the Lithuanian military, said.
Lithuania has had the howitzers since 2016.
US says that Russia has taken delivery of arms shipment from North Korea and advances bills targeting war criminals, Russian oligarchs as the Russia-Ukraine conflict rolls into its 302nd day
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— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) December 23, 2022
North Korea denies supplying Russia with munitions
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has denied a media report it supplied munitions to Russia, calling
it “groundless,” and denounced the United States for providing
lethal weapons to Ukraine, the North’s official KCNA news agency
reported.
Japan’s Tokyo Shimbun reported earlier that North Korea had
shipped munitions, including artillery shells, to Russia via
train through their border last month and that additional
shipments were expected in the coming weeks.
“The Japanese media’s false report that the DPRK offered
munitions to Russia is the most absurd red herring, which is not
worth any comment or interpretation,” a ministry spokesperson
said in a statement carried by the KCNA.
US alleges North Korea of sending arms shipment to Russia’s Wagner Group
The White House said the private Russian military company, the Wagner Group, took delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster Russian forces in Ukraine, a sign of the group’s expanding role in that conflict.
John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said Wagner was searching worldwide for arms suppliers to support its military operations in Ukraine.
“We can confirm that North Korea has completed an initial arms delivery to Wagner, which paid for that equipment. Last month, North Korea delivered infantry rockets and missiles into Russia for use by Wagner,” he told reporters.
Wagner owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, denied the assertion as “gossip and speculation.”
“Everyone knows that North Korea has not been supplying any weapons to Russia for a long time. And no such efforts have even been made,” he said in a statement.
US Congress advances bills targeting war criminals, Russian oligarchs
A pair of bills granting the US Justice Department additional tools to go after Russian oligarchs and alleged war criminals appeared poised to become law after a last-minute push by a bipartisan group of lawmakers this week.
One bill, which broadens the Justice Department’s jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes, passed in the US House of Representatives after winning Senate approval on Wednesday.
It now heads to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it into law.
Another bill, which will allow the Justice Department to transfer oligarchs’ forfeited assets in some situations to Ukraine, passed in the Senate as an amendment to Congress’ annual funding bill. Those assets will be first transferred to the State Department, which would disperse the funds as foreign aid, according to the bill’s text.
‘Armed with English’: Ukraine soldiers take language lessons
Ukrainian soldiers scramble to learn English –- military terms especially –- so they can use most of the combat aid from Washington and elsewhere against Russian forces.
Donated supplies like HIMARS rocket systems have already been a battlefront game-changer, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s lightning visit to Washington this week yielded further pledges –- including, for the first time, the Patriot missile defence system.
Soldiers have found, however, that training materials for this equipment are available mainly in English, which is often also necessary to communicate with foreign volunteer fighters they encounter in the field.
To help topple the language barrier, 35-year-old English teacher Olena Chekryzhova has traded in her quiet life of classroom conjugation to give crash courses to the armed forces.
For live updates from Thursday (December 22), click here.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
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